President Xi Jinping called on Tuesday for grassroots-level efforts to boost ties between Beijing and Washington, ahead of his scheduled meeting with US President Barack Obama in California on June 7 and 8.

Xi made the remarks when meeting the mayor of Los Angeles, a city with the largest Chinese population in the US.

Following the meeting, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa described Xi as "a man of the people", in an exclusive interview with China Daily.